Thursday, February 20, 2014

Is Obama hurting himself by not reaching out?

To us Californian's there are two major issues currently taking place, health care and the water crisis.

Obama recently came over to Fresno, California to check out the impact of the drought. He only brought along a few other Democrats for his three hour tour, despite the fact that the House Majority Whip, Kevin McCarthy is crucial in getting any legislation passed Congress. Obama didn't even find his way to the Delta, nor did he reach out more north to speak with local leaders who may have different opinions than the big time farmers of the central valley.

Obama did spend time with Jerry Brown to discuss his plans to create huge tunnels to transfer water to the south, but he didn't get the sides of other democrats like Ami Bera from Elk Grove who oppose Brown's plan.

The drought is a really complicated issue in California and all sides need to be thought out before decisions are made, Obama is only sticking to one side and that may affect him later. He said that the agricultural production in California makes this drought a national concern, but rather than spending time golfing in Palm Springs it might have been more useful for him to be out in the Delta actually working on this crisis.

With regards to healthcare, Obama also kept decisions very one sided rather than bringing everyone in. He delayed parts of the Affordable Care Act on his own. The Obama administration announced last week that it gave a substantial amount of companies even more time to provide healthcare to their employees. This is allowing employers to phase in coverage through 2016 when a law was passed by Congress in 2010 that stated any employer with more than fifty workers needed to supply healthcare coverage by last month.

I get that Obama doesn't want Republicans messing with Obamacare, since they want to repeal it and all, but I don't think shutting them out like this is the right way to go about the situation. This just provides more ammunition to the critics who already think that Obama is overstepping his authority, and maybe their right.

Maybe the White House needs to be more open to suggestion about the health care reforms and involving younger people as well as adding primary care doctors to rural places that also need the help.